U.S. Judge Reverses Plan to Expand Snowmobile Access in National Parks

Source: Washington Post

Handing environmentalists a major victory, a federal judge yesterday overturned the Bush administration's plan to allow hundreds more snowmobiles to traverse Yellowstone and other iconic national parks each winter.

U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan threw out the National Park Service's 2007 plan, calling it "arbitrary and capricious, unsupported by the record, and contrary to law." The administration rule would have allowed 540 recreational snowmobiles and 83 snow coaches a day to enter Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks and the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway. Sullivan said the plan violated the agency's mission statement.

The 63-page ruling marks a turning point in a legal battle that has been fought since 1997 over how much to allow motorized vehicles in U.S. national parks. Presidents Richard M. Nixon and Jimmy Carter imposed limits on off-road vehicles in the parks, but the growing popularity of snowmobiles has put pressure on policymakers to ease the restrictions. The Clinton administration published a rule in late January 2001 that would have phased out snowmobiles in Yellowstone in favor of a system of public snow coaches, but Bush cancelled that plan and pushed for expanded snowmobile access.

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Tim Stevens, NPCA's Yellowstone senior program manager, said in an interview yesterday that the federal judge's ruling "affirms the very idea at the heart of our national park system. The Park Service is supposed to put the highest priority on protections for its wildlife, air and natural sounds."

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/15/AR2008091502830.html

k and r'ing this because we need a little good news once in awhile.

:woohoo::woohoo::woohoo::woohoo::woohoo:

Damn good news.

Screw him!

EARTH FIRST!